10/02/2009 @ 4:50PM

Wall Street Closes Quietly

The market’s tumultuous week ended lightly, as the Dow Jones industrial average fell .2%, or 21.61 points, to 9,487.67, while the Nasdaq composite index lost .5%, or 9.37 points, to close at 2,048.11. The S&P 500 index slipped .5%, or 4.64 points, to 1,025.21.

Friday’s jobless report was worse than expected, but the investors took the news well. The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate rose to 9.8%, while the amount of jobs lost in September reached 263,000. Although the official consensus on Wall Street forecast job losses to only reach 175,000, data over the past week led many investors to ready for a reading that exceeded 200,000. Furthermore, any negative reaction was already absorbed by Thursday’s large fall. (See “Street Gets Spooked.”)

Shares of
Comcast
slipped 2.7%, or 43 cents, to $15.24, its second drop in two days, on news that it was in talks to purchase a 51% slice of NBC Universal from
General Electric
. Analysts are lukewarm about the deal, arguing that another large purchase was not in the company’s interest. GE also fell 3.8%, or 61 cents, to $15.36.

Brazil cheered after the International Olympic Committee voted Rio de Janeiro as the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, making it the first South American city to receive the honor. Rio also managed to beat Chicago, which had the active support of President Barack Obama. American Depository Receipts of Brazilian metals company
Vale
rose 2.9%, or 57 cents, to $20.47 — the Beijing build-out for the last Olympics was a boon to Chinese commodities and services companies. The IOC snubbed Chicago because Obama refused to commit to taxpayer funding for the games, preferring instead to rely on Chicago’s already substantial sports infrastructure and private backing. (See “IOC Only Pays Lip Service To Fiscal Prudence.”)

Video-store chain
Blockbuster
announced it closed a $675 million debt offering, pushing its shares 4 cents to $1.07. The company said it would use the money to pay other outstanding debt. Blockbuster had been the unqualified leader in its industry, but was unable to adapt to competitors like
Netflix
, and video-on-demand services. (See “Can Games Save Blockbuster?”)